CD/SA-CD Players

Comments

The S60's are excellent multipurpose speakers, I love mine. It took me 27 years to upgrade my front speakers, I had to wait until Polk finally made a pair of good looking multipurpose speakers that didn't break my wallet or my back!

I would look on the used market for a top of the line (at its time) player that is now "obsolete". I am sure some will disagree but the technology to play a CD is decades old. An older top of the line CD player will get all of the "sound" out there is.

Search Redbook.

I have a used Sony 9000ES CD/SACD/DVD player. It was an excellent player at the time, cost $1500 when introduced, and weighs about 50 lbs. The problem is it is obsolete now because it will not play 1080p DVDs and does not have the flavor of the month DVD decoder or connects.

You should be able to find one on Ebay / Craigslist for about $200. I personally think it will hold its own with many of the new $1000 players (for CDs)

It should be noted that the Sony 9000ES is infamous for it's laser problems. Hence, the dirt cheap prices and not because it won't play certain formats.

I also disagree that all older top of the line CD players will get all of the "sound" out there is. Some will and some won't.

Political Correctness'.........defined

"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

I would look on the used market for a top of the line (at its time) player that is now "obsolete". I am sure some will disagree but the technology to play a CD is decades old. An older top of the line CD player will get all of the "sound" out there is.

Search Redbook.

I have a used Sony 9000ES CD/SACD/DVD player. It was an excellent player at the time, cost $1500 when introduced, and weighs about 50 lbs. The problem is it is obsolete now because it will not play 1080p DVDs and does not have the flavor of the month DVD decoder or connects.

You should be able to find one on Ebay / Craigslist for about $200. I personally think it will hold its own with many of the new $1000 players (for CDs)

I had the 9000ES and a 7100ES AVR. You can connect the two digitally via Sony’s proprietary Ilink cable, and let the AVR decode SACDs to play. This saved 5 analog cables between the SACD player and the AVR. Yes, it did sound very good, and I am sure a lot of people would be happy with it.

However, like everything else, there are newer and better players, transports, and DACs now available, but they also cost more.

It should be noted that the Sony 9000ES is infamous for it's laser problems. Hence, the dirt cheap prices and not because it won't play certain formats.

You pay your money and you take your chances with used equipment. But I am 2 years into my $220 investment and everything is OK so far (knock on wood). Everything after this is gravy.

Luckily the 9000 replacement CD laser mechanism is still readily obtainable and cheap so fixing one should be easy. But in the future this is always an issue with any player. There are some older mid 80's Redbook CD players that have a cult following and they quickly sell for $500-1000. Some people just love the sound of these original players. Unfortunately replacement lasers have been gone for years and when the laser finally dies you have an expensive doorstop.

There are some older mid 80's Redbook CD players that have a cult following and they quickly sell for $500-1000. Some people just love the sound of these original players.

Yep, truly amazing considering how bad they sound.

Political Correctness'.........defined

"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

Welp, I'm a ways off from being able to afford a quality player, so I'm very happy that a noticed a 7 buck entry level SA-CD player at Goodwill for 7 bucks! Sony DVP-NC875V. Five disc carousel, can also be used as a dvd player. Reading the reviews, the audio side outperforms the video side, which is aok for me. I'm sure this would be considered junk to some, but it's better than nothin.

Welp, I'm a ways off from being able to afford a quality player, so I'm very happy that a noticed a 7 buck entry level SA-CD player at Goodwill for 7 bucks! Sony DVP-NC875V. Five disc carousel, can also be used as a dvd player. Reading the reviews, the audio side outperforms the video side, which is aok for me. I'm sure this would be considered junk to some, but it's better than nothin.

Early returns are positive, but that might be mostly due to getting to hear CD's that I haven't played in years on my new system! But cosmetically it's in great shape and the sound is good to my ears. I'm probably not going to go too crazy with buying new SACD's, but I'll look to get ahold of one so I can try that out.

Adding this new component caused me to dive a little deeper into the setup of my Marantz. I had been disappointed with the low volume coming from my record player, but I just noticed that I could bump up the level on individual inputs. I increased that one by 5db and it's made a huge difference. Overall the Marantz has been great. Clarity is much improved, and it's much easier to listen to than the Sony. I found myself cranking the volume up on my old receiver in order to try to get detail, but it ended up just fatiguing my ears. Definitely seeing a big difference in that area.

And I guess what I was getting at originally is would I see much improvement in using a dedicated cd player rather than just a dvd or blueray player for listening to cd's

Some people will say no. Rest assured, they have never heard a really good CD/SACD player.

ive Been thinking of getting a nice player, all I’ve ever used have been dvd or bd players just because they’re cheaper and I haven’t had room for extra things. the only CD players I’ve used or heard an 82’ magnavox and my dads newer NAD.

Unfortunately replacement lasers have been gone for years and when the laser finally dies you have an expensive doorstop.

They only lasers available are from used Sony 360/560 DVD players which are mostly unobtainable with low hours. I bought a bunch and most all lasers failed within weeks or months.

by the way do you have the service manual? These machines will diagnose themselves you do not find that in anything modern that I know of.

You also can calibrate the laser to all formats but once the laser starts flaking NOTHNG you can do

You are very lucky in your investment I bought new and had problems within the first year. It's pretty bad when your 1500.00 player uses the same laser they used in the 150.00 player

JUNK but when the play they play good no doubt about that. I never used mine for video. It was strictly SACD/CD ONLY.

I would be pissed if my $1500 "top of the Sony line" CD player died after a year! No wonder they got a bad rap.

I did download the service manual. First thing i did was find the hidden screen that shows how many hours the CD played. I do not remember the number but it was not excessive. I do know a common fault for these players is the inability to read SACD's (for starters) and you are correct the machine can self diagnose and repair some tracking errors. Luckily I have not had to do that yet. So far the only thing I don't like is it refuses to play CD-R's. I know it can but I think Sony blocks it since they sell CD's

I thought the 9000ES takes the KHM 220AAA transport. Did a quick search and there are new ones available for $40-50. But they are probably Chinese. Unfortunately this problem will eventually happen with ALL CD players. All lasers eventually die and by the time they do the part is always out of stock.

It does not have the ability to play CD-r because that function was not built in to it like their earlier machines. See you will never know the C13 code because those machines the easiest disc to read is the CD. The sacd/dvd function is the first to go.
Yes those transports are junk after market Chinese knock offs.
The Sony first through third gen lasers are the most reliable EVER. I have two machines an X33es and the earlier 508 (i believe) both are about 30yrs old and NEVER had to or will need to replace the laser or transport they are bullet proof.
Both machines have thousands of hours of play time on them. The 508 i gave to my son 10 yrs ago still a daily driver for him..
The X33 i completely recapped good for another 30 yrs. Might need a belt but that has not happened for either yet.

It does not have the ability to play CD-r because that function was not built in to it like their earlier machines. See you will never know the C13 code because those machines the easiest disc to read is the CD. The sacd/dvd function is the first to go.
Yes those transports are junk after market Chinese knock offs.
The Sony first through third gen lasers are the most reliable EVER. I have two machines an X33es and the earlier 508 (i believe) both are about 30yrs old and NEVER had to or will need to replace the laser or transport they are bullet proof.
Both machines have thousands of hours of play time on them. The 508 i gave to my son 10 yrs ago still a daily driver for him..
The X33 i completely recapped good for another 30 yrs. Might need a belt but that has not happened for either yet.

Good to know. I might have to start looking for one of the models you mentioned as a back up unit.

If you end up buying a Sony x33es player. Be aware the the Elna dourex II electrolytic caps are one of the most corrosive caps ever made. The leak down the electrodes get into the copper traces and eat it GONE. They're about 50 caps to change out. I switched mine to all Elna Silmic II and Nichicon FG where Elna didn't have values. This is a very tedious job and there may be areas you need to jump to good trace. Best to take bottom off and look for black discoloration. These are not a joke. They need to be removed.

That is a problem with just about all modern receivers and players. They try and jam so much in them its a nightmare to recap. I was thinking about recapping a late 80's Denon integrated amp. Opened it up and there were at least 50 caps all over the place and on every board (and the boards were stacked all over the place).

Picked up my first SACD; Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft. Got it for a penny! Plus 3.99 shipping. I've heard of the band but never listened to them. Not sure if they'll be a mainstay in my rotation, but they sure took advantage of the technology and was a good intro.

I have Can's Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi on the way. I've been getting into them recently and can't wait to hear them in this format!

I'm sure it's a whole other world with a quality player, but I'm thrilled with my $7 purchase right now!

My blueray player just crapped out, so I'm considering going the universal route. I have my eye on the Oppo UDP-203. I am hoping to wait it out and catch one on sale - looks like the current lowest price is $559. Has anyone seen these pop up at a discount?

Oh you don't say...well let me see how much my first born would go for on the market and maybe we can talk later!

I see that you have the UDP-205. That seems like it would be the best of both worlds (well, relatively speaking). How do you like it? Probably out of my price range for now, but maybe it's worth saving up for.